(Closed) Cost comparisons as an way to negotiate

Hey Bees! Have any of you used the ole’ line “well, this venue would charge this much and give us this….” to negotiate? I am looking at two comparable venues (both are outdoorsey with an indoor reception option and hotel onsite. Both also have their own catering and bar.) One is a bit more expensive, but smaller and closer to home. One one hand, I feel like I could say “Well, place X would only charge me this much for the bar, can you reduce your price?” I have heard this place is hurting for business and, well, I would be filling their hotel for the weekend. On the other hand, I feel like my contact could just say “Well, then go to place X instead for your wedding.” Did you negotiate for anything in your reception? How did it go?

I negotiated.. We basically said we LOVE your venue… but its a little out of our price range… is there anyways we can come down to this… It was only $5 more a person.. .but it was something and they said yes… AND they were already the least expensive place we found and offered more beautiful amenities and more options than ANYONE else we spoke with

I think with all bargaining there’s the chance that the contact will go “Well then take your business elsewhere”. There’s definitely no harm in trying though. Personally we got a slightly cheaper deal because the venue originally quoted us the wrong price but when I pulled it up in our meeting they said they’d honor it.

I tried it with a florist and got a flat no, but it wasn’t rude or anything and they wished me luck. I appreciated their professionalism and have since sent other business their way – even though I had to go elsewhere for budget reasons.

There is always room for negotiation and if you don’t ask you’ll never know, right!!! In saying that I am not sure I would approach it the way you’ve mentioned above. I would def. start by letting them know you want to stay within a certain budget/price range. I would then ask if there are a couple of different quotes they can offer you. If there is only one quote that is fine ask if its possible you can see the details of the price break down. And then go from there…

In todays economy I sure hope they would never say “Well, then go to place X instead for your wedding.” And if they do say that, you don’t want to work with them anyways